A description of the thoughts, ideas, events, photos and other random odds 'n ends connected to Christine Anderson, the owner of Yellow Cow Photography, proud mama of Daphne Elle and wife to the fabulous Jared William.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Off the Deep End

The neurotic cleaning side of me really started on January 1. I remember going around the house pulling things off shelves and decided if I really needed it. I got rid of all my clothes that no longer fit and many other items that were just kicking around the house just in case. I decided that everything in my life was going to have a storage space, it was going to be useful and I was going to like it.

As soon as I hit the 3rd trimester, it became abundantly clear that I was running out of time to get my house sorted out. My belly is getting bigger by the day, and I still would like to neurotically clean a whole lot. Enter Nico. Nico is a friend from high school that I haven't connected up with in several years. She just finished her degree, and she is traveling around connecting up with old friends. She came on Tuesday and has been a huge help. I committed to spending time getting things in order with her help so that I can start to relax a little bit. My goal in nesting and organizing is to get my house in such good order that it will be easy to maintain when I have a 2 year old and a newborn that need lots of attention from me.

I got up this morning and resolved to get a bunch of things done. I started by going out to the garden and prepping the soil in 2 of the beds so that I could transplant some veggies into them soon (the veggies are getting very big to stay inside). Turning the soil was a lot of work because I had added in some sheep fleeces, some shredded paper and some rabbit manure that was mostly composted. I mixed it in really well. Things look great, and I am excited to plant, I just need to figure out a way to secure the chickens in their run so they don't escape out and eat the seedlings.

I then moved on to shear a rabbit. I got some new clippers recently to help me get the rabbit shearing to be easier. They have been working wonders. I got one rabbit done yesterday, and I got another rabbit done today. This used to take me hours and hours to do, so the fact that I got it done in under 3 hours was fantastic.

I even then was able to take the bottom off one of the rabbit cages and replace it. I was worried about losing a rabbit through the bottom. It's repaired now, and in better shape than ever, which makes an incredible bonus! No more rabbit related work, other than shearing, for some time.

I then managed to get back inside and helped Nico do a little work on cleaning the inside and outsides of the windows. She did the window work, and I took the screens out and cleaned them up really well. I can see out the windows of the house, and it is SO nice!

Jared then returned with the pressure washer we are borrowing and things went into a completely different gear. We cleaned out the garage and moved the freezers out. We pressure washed out the part of the garage that has been stained with chicken poop, blueberries and other things over the past few years.

Nico then moved on and pressure washed part of the driveway. We had moss growing on part of it, and it looked really bad. The pressure washer really made a huge difference. It is so nice to have a clean driveway again.

Nico is now out pressure washing the deck so that it can be stained. I wasn't sure that it was going to make much of a difference, but I really do see the difference now. The deck looks amazing, and it will be really well taken care of with a coat or two of varnish on it. The bonus is that we have about 4 gallons of varnish that we got with the house when we moved in, so this project isn't costing a ton, and it is really improving the house.

I even managed to get back out in the garage and sweep the floor and move somethings to new locations. We are hoping to park the car in the garage this summer with a new baby to deal with. We are very, very close to being able to do it at this point. I've just got a bit of photography stuff that needs to be gone through first.

I remembered amongst all of this that the ham for Iron Chef needed to be brined, so I got it in a brine now. I'm excited to cook it tomorrow.

The garbage man needs to come so that I can throw some other things out (our can is full), but I can manage doing other projects until Tuesday.

Tomorrow the stain will go on the deck, the rest of the driveway can be pressure washed, another rabbit or two will be sheared and the house will be cleaned. Iron Chef starts at 6, and it's going to be hopping around here until then!

So you judge, has this pregnant woman neurotically gone off the deep end of the nesting and cleaning? I think so.